The Jaffe Briefing - October 10, 2017
OUR TAKE ON THE NEWS IN NEW JERSEY
NEWARK - They have been shadow boxing for months, and finally the two candidates for governor will square off tonight in a debate, taking the NJPAC stage at 7 p.m. The debate will be broadcast all over the place. There are plenty of undecided voters out there for Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno to convince, with nearly three-fifths of voters having "no opinion" in the latest polling. Murphy pledges to attract new tech to New Jersey, bringing along plenty of jobs. Guadagno is all about taxes and ways to cut them. The devil is in the details; eager to hear what he has to say.
LAKEWOOD - The Asbury Park Press estimates a local attorney has sued the school district at least 80 times. So, in response, school officials are hiring him, to the tune of at least $600,000 in fees. Huh? NJ 101.5 reports the Education Law Center is now asking some obvious questions, registering a complaint with the Attorney General about all this crazy spending. Now the AG is warning the district could be violating state regulations. School officials defend the hiring, saying the attorney keeps suing them on behalf of families seeking special education services. If he's on their side, they figure, maybe the district can actually avoid all the lawsuits. Some logic there, as the district spent $1.2 million in legal fees last year, with nearly $500,000 going to this guy.
SPARTA - On some side street, in a small Italian town, maybe there's a guy from Brooklyn sipping a latte and thumbing through comic books. Those books came from a Sparta home that he robbed, while doing restoration work. NBC reports the worker grabbed around $239,000 in comic books and artwork from the unoccupied house and then fled to Italy. The homeowner noticed something was a bit amiss, when friends said his stuff was on the market. The homeowner has been able to track down most of it, while cops continue to search for the robber who could perhaps be back in the general New York area. Good luck, there.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
BALTIMORE - Sure, we all love those smells of fall. But a pumpkin spice air freshener prompted the full evacuation of a Baltimore high school, as people complained of upset stomachs. A hazardous materials team descended on the third floor of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School last Thursday, with five people taken to the hospital. Firefighters ultimately found a pumpkin spice air aerosol plugged into an outlet in a classroom. So Glade it wasn't serious.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - There have been plenty of less-than-happy vendors working for the Trump Administration. And then there's the story of Brad Parscale, a low-end web designer in 2011, who would hang in book stores and pitch his web work, CBS says. But it all changed when he received an email from the Trump Organization in 2011, asking if he wanted to design a website. More jobs came his way and, in 2015, he was asked to create the Trump for President site for $1,500. The result? $94 million in revenue, posting tens of thousands of social media ads, mostly slamming Hillary.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1976 that Giants Stadium opens, creating an impossible wind tunnel for quarterbacks.
Q. What do the New York Giants and possums have in common?
A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.
WORD OF THE DAY
Denegation - [den-ih-GAY-shun] - noun
Definition: Denial
Example: Am I in denegation when I say the Giants are headed to the playoffs?
WEATHER IN A WORD
Summer?